Gameday preview: Lafayette
Following a disappointing 30-0 defeat at the hands of Duke in Durham last Friday, Temple will be home at Lincoln Financial Field for the first time under Stan Drayton when it hosts Lafayette Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff.
Saturday’s home opener will be the first of a rare three-game homestand for the Owls that will also include games against Rutgers next Saturday for homecoming and UMass the following Saturday.
Like last week, this game will also be a battle of two new head coaches. Stan Drayton will be looking for his first win as Temple’s head coach, and John Troxell, a native of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, is in his first season with his alma mater.
With the exception of a COVID-shortened 2020 season in which the Leopards went 2-1, Lafayette has not had a winning season since 2009. The Leopards are coming off of a week one 6-0 victory at home against Sacred Heart in which they only had 113 yards of offense and just eight passing yards.
While Lafayette gave up 310 total yards of offense, it forced two turnovers and got a shutout in its first game of the season.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON OFFENSE
Redshirt-sophomore quarterback D’Wan Mathis will look for a better start with more consistency on Saturday against the Leopards after a rough opening game last week. In the season opener against Duke, Mathis only had 11 completions for 83 yards. He was also credited with two fumbles on botched handoffs and lost one of them. Mathis didn’t try to throw the ball deep down the field at Duke, and Drayton said Monday that not getting into an early offensive rhythm prevented that.
Getting that part of Temple’s offense going Saturday could potentially open things up in the ground game for running backs Edward Saydee, Darvon Hubbard and Jakari Norwood.
One of the few bright spots last week was that the Owls’ top two receivers, Adonicas Sanders and Jose Baron, came to play. Sanders, a Georgia Tech transfer, and Barbon were effective when targeted. Barbon had five catches for 45 yards, and Sanders had four catches for 39 yards. Both averaged around nine yards per catch. It’s a small sample size, but just one week into the season, Sanders and Barbon appear to be Temple’s top playmakers. And in order for the offense to really get going, both Sanders and Barbon need to be featured.
The Owls utilized a running-back-by-committee approach in their opener, and all four backs played. Saydee led the group with eight carries for 16 yards, Norwood had four carries for 11 yards, and Hubbard had two carries for six yards. The Texas A&M transfer did have a 7-yard run that would have gone for a first down negated by an Isaac Moore holding penalty.
Drayton said Monday that he wanted to evaluate his entire running back room to see what he has moving forward. The former running backs coach at Texas who has worked with elite backs like Longhorns star Bijan Robinson and past Ohio State standouts like Ezekiel Elliott and Carlos Hyde, wants to feature and develop that position now in running his own program.
“Really that rotation with those running backs was to give all of those guys an opportunity to play so we can evaluate who they are during the course of a game,” Drayton. “All of them had an opportunity to play on third down. I wanted to see who can protect the quarterback and who can be that receiving back for us. (Jakari) muffed a couple, but he does have really good hands, so we’ll settle down and figure that piece out as we go.”
Tight end David Martin-Robinson missed last week’s opener as he continues to recover from an injury and remains day-to-day heading into Saturday’s game. With Martin-Robinson out, James Della Pesca started and played 41 snaps while Jordan Smith played 26, but none of Temple’s 14 completions went to tight ends. Although Martin-Robinson has just 21 career catches in four previous seasons, it’s also clear that the Owls could benefit from his return there.
Temple played the same five offensive linemen at the same five positions for the entire game at Duke. The offensive line was one of their main issues in the game, particularly along the interior, as the run game did not get going and Mathis never felt comfortable throwing from the pocket. One of the few positive plays in the run game, a 7-yard run from Hubbard, was the one negated by Moore’s holding penalty. An experienced, single-digit player like Moore will obviously have to eliminate those mistakes for an offense that has already struggled early in the season.
Drayton did say Monday that he was encouraged by the play of starting left guard and Houston transfer James Faminu, who played sparingly in two seasons with the Cougars.
“There was a lot of growth in our (left) guard, our tackles played a good game, and our (left) guard James Faminu did a phenomenal job,” Drayton said. “Not knowing what we were going to get playing for Temple for the first time, but there still needs a lot of growth with those five guys.”
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON DEFENSE
Temple’s defense at Duke gave up 500 total yards and let starting quarterback Riley Leonard complete his first 15 passes in only his second career start. While the Owls gave up 24 points in the first half, they only gave up six points in the second, which has been Drayton’s biggest positive talking point coming into this game.
The opener was everyone’s first detailed look at new single-digit and starting cornerback Jalen McMurray. He made four tackles in the game, but the ball was generally not thrown in his direction. Instead, redshirt junior Elijah Clark and sophomore Dominick Hill were picked on by the Blue Devils.
Hill was whistled for holding and pass interference flags in the first half alone, and Clark was beaten in coverage along the right sideline when Leonard hit St. Joe’s Prep graduate Sahmir Hagans on a 39-yard touchdown pass that helped Duke grab a 24-0 lead at the 7:08 mark of the second quarter. While last year’s starters at corner in Cameron Ruiz and Keyshawn Paul played a combined 11 snaps last week in the loss, Drayton and defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot gave redshirt-freshman Daiyaan Hawkins an opportunity later in the game with 11 snaps there. McMurray was the only cornerback to play more than 40 snaps in the opener. Drayton felt the cornerback group as a whole played aggressively, but obviously knows the play at that position needs to improve.
“We want our guys to not be afraid to play aggressive football,” Drayton said. “They just need to play smart in those situations. We want them to be in position to contest throws and catches, and they were. They just need to play smarter. I do believe that they need to put themselves in better positions to stop explosive plays in the run game. I don’t think we tackled well on the back end. They owned that and they’ll get better this week about that.”
The linebackers were the position group that stood out the most last week. Layton Jordan and Jordan Magee led the team with eight tackles apiece, while McMurray and safety Alex Odom each contributed seven stops. Jordan did get beat on an early wheel route but was one of the few players who looked comfortable and effective in pressuring Leonard.
Temple’s front three didn’t generate much pressure on Leonard, with single-digit sophomore Darian Varner registering Temple’s only sack of the game, and it came when in the second quarter when the Owls were already down 24-0.
With Lafayette starting true freshman Ryan Schuster, who went just 8 of 17 passing for eight yards and two interceptions in their opener, Temple will need to make him uncomfortable in order to force their first turnovers of the year.
WHEN TEMPLE IS ON SPECIAL TEAMS
One of the biggest bright spots in the Owls’ opener was the punting by Australian redshirt- sophomore Mackenzie Morgan. The Owls needed him to punt seven times but when called upon, he averaged 43.3 yards per punt with a long of 52 yards. In being shut out, Temple did not get a look at starting placekicker Rory Bell, other than on his 62-yard kickoff to start the game.
On the other side, Amad Anderson struggled mightily on both kick and punt returns. He had two kickoff returns for 23 yards with a fumble and one punt return of minus-1 yards and a fumble.
KEY MATCHUPS
Lafayette RB Jaden Sutton vs. Temple’s Front Three
Last week, 105 of the 113 total yards Lafayette had in its opener were on the ground, and Sutton led the Leopards in rushing with eight carries for 43 yards. The Leopards do also turn to Schuster on the ground, as he produced the game’s only points on an 18-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Temple allowed 172 yards on the ground to Duke and will look to fix that against a run-first team.
Stan Drayton vs John Troxell: Battle of New Head Coaches
It was a key matchup last week as well, with Drayton matched up against new Duke head coach Mike Elko. This week, John Troxell is trying to bring the Lafayette program back to prominence as the Leopards are looking for their first full winning season since 2009.
Lafayette Quarterback Ryan Schuster vs. Temple’s Front Seven
Schuster in his first career start completed eight balls for just eight yards. While Temple struggled to get pressure on Duke’s inexperienced quarterback, it is going to be essential for the Owls to make Schuster’s day rough and uncomfortable to force some incompletions and turnovers.